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If you’re speeding excessively through West Vancouver, chances are Cpl. Grant Gottgetreu will have you on his radar.

The West Vancouver cop is likely to catch you, slap you with a fine and take your vehicle away for at least a week — or up to two months if you’re a serial speeder.

Just ask the man racing for the ferry who was nailed by Gottgetreu after going 45 km/h over the speed limit. Or the Canada Post driver who lost his van for seven days.

Even a family laden to the hilt with camping gear was not immune: they found themselves stranded on the highway after being caught with the needle on their speedometer ticking 50 km/h over the posted limit.

“I feel bad about that, but you’re putting your whole family at risk so you can go camping,” Gottgetreu said, adding he expects to catch a larger number of speedsters in the summer.

“If you’re going that fast and I catch you, you’re going to get your car impounded. This isn’t even prime season (summer) yet and I’ve already got 100 (this year).”

Catching speeders is all in a day’s work for Gottgetreu, who has impounded 422 vehicles since September 2010, when new provisions in B.C.’s Motor Vehicle Act granted police the right to ticket a driver caught going 40 kilometres or more over the speed limit and take the vehicle off the road for a week.

More than 16,000 vehicles were impounded in B.C. between the fall of 2010 to the end of February 2013, due to excessive speeds, according to the B.C. justice ministry. The provincial government suggests that since 2008, $61 million in traffic fine revenue has been returned to municipalities to help with policing and public safety.

Gottgetreu focuses his efforts on the Sea to Sky Highway and the road to Cypress Bowl, mainly because that’s where most of the fatalities occur, but he has also nabbed excessive speeders within the city limits, such as on Taylor Way and Marine Drive.

He has yet to catch the same speeder three times, but last year he nabbed three people who had their vehicles impounded for 30 days each. In 2012, Gottgetreu racked up 220 impoundments.

Penalties vary depending on how hard a driver’s foot hits the pedal. Drivers going 40 km/h over the limit, for instance, will be fined $368, while those exceeding the limit by more than 60 km/h get a $483 fine.

At the same time, a first-time offender would lose their vehicle for seven days. If it happens again, they lose their wheels for 30 days. A subsequent offence within two years would see their vehicle stuck in the impound lot for 60 days.

Drivers also receive three demerit points on their driving record, and are responsible for paying the costs of having their vehicle in an impound lot — at least $210 for seven days, with towing and storage costs. This rises to about $700 for a second offence and more than $1,200 if a driver is nabbed a third time. Each municipal force or RCMP has a contract with a specific towing company.

“It seems to be that people don’t get it,” Gottgetreu said. “There’s only a very small (number) of those people who are aware of that impound law.”

ICBC, which compiles the data on the fines collected, was unable to produce the information on Tuesday about how much money has been collected since the fall of 2010.

Stephanie Melvin, deputy superintendent of B.C.’s motor vehicle branch, said it appears the new law is starting to work on reducing speed-related crashes. The number of traffic fatalities involving speed have dropped from 167 in 2007 to 96 in 2011, she said.

But more work still needs to be done.

“We have every confidence this law is working but we do know that speed is the No. 1 road safety problem, contributing to almost 40 per cent of all fatal crashes. When you speed you have a limited field of vision, less time to react and your car takes longer to stop. This significantly increases your risk of a crash,” Melvin said in statement emailed to The Vancouver Sun

“Police enforcement remains steady, which shows us that people continue to speed excessively and police continue to use the laws to issue tough, immediate sanctions.

“People need to change their behaviour.”

The worst speeder Gottgetreu has encountered was a motorcyclist doing 190 km/h in a 90 km/h zone on the highway, but most speeders travel between 135 km/h and 190 km/h. Most of them, he added, aren’t residents of West Vancouver, but racing through the city on their way to and from destinations like the ferry, Cypress or Whistler.

“I’ve seen some of the most absurd driving patterns ... The reality is the carnage that’s on the road is over the top. We’ve all seen it,” he said.

“The higher the speed the more likely they’re going to get injured or killed in a collision. That’s not rocket science, that’s physics 101.”

Gottgetreu said in the past year he’s heard people say they have their foot a little lighter on the gas pedal when they head through West Vancouver, but he’s not sure what impact his traffic team is having on the overall driving population.

“I don’t think I’m going to be changing any driving habits so I’m not going after people who are driving 10 kilometres over the limit. I’m looking for high flyers doing at least 30 over and higher,” Gottgetreu said.

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